Greetings, emperors!

So far in this series I’ve talked about population, grain, stone and how your resources all fit together. Today I want to introduce something a little different, a brand new troop type coming in the next major update: the engineer.

Engineers are not soldiers. Let me be clear about that from the start. They carry basic tools rather than swords, they wear little or no armour, and you would not want to send them into battle alone. Their combat values are poor by design. An army built around engineers without a proper escort is an army asking to be destroyed.

So what are they for?

Construction. Engineers are specialists in building, quarrying, road-laying and fortification work. Their presence in an army dramatically changes how quickly construction projects get done. An army of soldiers without any engineers can still build outposts and improve terrain, but it takes twice as long as it should. Send in an army with at least 100 engineers and that construction time drops immediately to its normal base speed. From there, the more engineers you have, the faster the work gets done, up to a point.

This creates a natural and interesting decision for you as a player. Do you want a war army or a pioneer army? A war army is built for fighting, heavy on infantry and cavalry, and can still do basic construction if needed, just slowly. A pioneer army is built around engineers with a modest infantry escort for protection, and it gets construction done fast. Both have their place in a well-run empire.

Engineers are also inexpensive to field. They need very little in the way of combat equipment, no heavy armour, no ranged weapons, just basic tools and logistical support. This means you can build a capable pioneer army without it placing a huge burden on your workshops.

In my next post I’ll show you exactly what the difference looks like in practice, with some concrete examples of project times. The numbers are quite striking!

Cheers!